


Memorandum & Decay

by genderneutrals



Category: Half-Life, Half-Life: Decay
Genre: Colette is a butch lesbian, F/F, Flirting & Romance & Misunderstandings, No Lesbians Die, and office drama, the d slur will be reclaimed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27278332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genderneutrals/pseuds/genderneutrals
Summary: We find ourselves the Friday before the week of the Resonance Cascade, where our main characters are preoccupied not with saving the world, but with coping with office drama, dealing with scheduling issues, finding company in one another, and that Freeman guy. Remember, no matter what happens: no lesbians die.
Relationships: Gina Cross/Colette Green
Kudos: 9





	Memorandum & Decay

**Author's Note:**

> made with the loving and generous input from flipkick <3 go read her half-life: extinction fic!

* * *

  
  
"I have a legitimate question for you, Doctor Thompson, and I need you to take me seriously. Are you taking me seriously?"

"Of course I am, Doctor Green. I don't know whatever would imply that I di--"

"Can you read? Quite honestly, can you? Did you somehow meander through two decades of education completely ignoring any literature and succeeding through sheer dumb luck? Was it your _charm_ perhaps that got you your degree, instead of reading comprehension skills?"

Thompson is holding himself like he's the last line of defense between this angry woman and whatever pride he has. "I don't appreciate your unprofessionalism, your insults, or your condescending tone."

Green is poised against the counter like she wants to climb up onto it and kick his head from the vantage point. "And I don't appreciate _yours_. The memo was clear, the instructions printed out, the diagnostic parameters were textbook, and you still somehow managed to ruin a batch of this _incredibly_ valuable and rare material. You should be grateful that _insulting_ is as far as I've taken this conversation."

"The error was my mistake--"

" _Quite clearly._ "

"--and I've taken steps to apologize and rectify it to the best of my abilities, quite frankly your little temper tantrum is helping nothing--"

"Well _I_ feel _loads_ better, _Thompson_ \--"

"Doctor Green, please!" Here it's Dr. Cross who interjects, having paused at the office door. The ruckus was honestly not ignorable in any sense, and besides, she was looking for Colette anyways. Better say something immediately than let the poor lab tech suffer her wrath any longer, despite his mistake. "I understand your frustration, but this isn't the way to deal with it."

Colette eases her shoulders when Gina announces herself, exhaling the rest of her sentence through her nose and shooting James a look.

He looks relieved, already in the midst of gathering up the pages of his report. Working in the shared office this morning was an obvious mistake. "Thank you, Doctor Cross. I've already spoken with Doctor Rosenburg about my mishap, and further action from either of you is not necessary."

Colette mutters something about Thompson hiding behind Rosenburg from Keller, and Gina loudly clears her throat before either of them go at each other again.

"Of course, James. If you'll excuse us, I have something to discuss with Doctor Green."

Thompson takes the hint and makes his escape, making heavy note to avoid being caught alone in a room by Green again. Her temper is not something he feared before, but he does not want to deal with it again. His footsteps echo briskly down the hall.

And Colette watches him leave, still seething. She has a lot of words to say to any lab technician who has the gall to not read perfectly clear instructions.

"You know, that's the sort of thing that gets Human Resources involved." Gina says tactfully, closing the door behind Thompson and stepping over to Colette's desk.

"Oh, as if he didn't deserve it." Dr. Green crosses her arms, foot tapping against the floor. Gina watches her defenses rise and doesn't react except to lay a sheet of documents on her colleagues workspace.

"I didn't say he didn't." Colette blinks, and Gina continues. "I rescheduled your anomalous materials handling session, by the way, to next month like you asked. I wasn't sure if you saw."

"I did--thank you." She begins untensing, redirecting her restless hands to the rote work on the counter in front of her. "They're having me look at those new samples from the GG expedition anyways, but between the PR tour and how on my ass they are about getting a report in, I just don't have the time. And with Thompson--" She cuts herself off here. Gina changed the subject for a reason.

"Speaking of the PR Tour..." Gina clasps her hands together in front of her and raises her eyebrows questioningly. "That's exciting."

"I don't know about exciting. I'd rather stay in my little cave. But apparently, I have a 'way with words'." The way her mouth quirks implies she didn't take it as the compliment it was meant to be. "As if the PR part wasn't nerve wracking enough, they've been drilling me with all the great things I'm supposed to say about my employer."

"Well that isn't.... horrible, is it?" Maybe out of Colette's comfort zone, but it doesn't seem like a terrible time.

"I don't know, Gina. Maybe not up front." She seems to be paying more intense attention to what her hands are doing, sorting labels within a box. "Sure, they wanna look good, but if they wanted someone to be overly enthusiastic about things I'm fairly neutral on, they should have gotten someone who's enthusiastic about it. And some of it..."

Gina waits a moment, prompting when the silence has lasted more than a couple seconds. "...is there something wrong?"

Colette shakes her head. Better to not get into it here, and especially not before she's properly gathered her thoughts. But there's no use ignoring her gut either way. "Never mind. Tell me about this Freeman guy."

Gina files the train of thought away for later, to think about and maybe press at a later time. She's made herself comfortable in the meantime, sitting in Colette's desk chair and loosely crossing her ankles in front of her. "Well, he's an MIT graduate, with a PhD in theoretical physics. From Seattle, I think?"

"I'm sure he's going to have plenty of fun here in the desert. How's training going?" 

"I've got him scheduled for a holo H.E.V. session next week."

Green considers a quip about people getting to spend time with Gina, but they come to mind clumsy, so she drops the idea. "Still completely bizarre to me that you and Kleiner have made that. How's it feel? Like being on the silver screen?"

Gina laughs and shakes her head. "No, it's... well, it's a little bit strange. Uncanny, maybe. But the feats of technology we accomplish here every day is unlike anything else. It's exciting."

"You've been working on the Mark V with Doctor Keller, right?"

"Yes! We'll be testing a prototype next week." Gina's face lights up, and she straightens. "The Mark IV is a remarkable suit, but there's so much to improve on, both in terms of design and functionality."

"I know you must have design concepts lying around somewhere. Are you hiding the work of one of our greatest minds from me, Doctor Cross?" Colette teases lightly, her words gently prodding for a reaction.

Gina smiles and rolls her eyes. "Oh, stop. I can bring them by sometime next week if you'd really like."

"I would." Colette begins putting the various office supplies back into their box. "Speaking of stopping by next week; I don't trust Thompson to not fuck up the GG samples like he did with these other crystals, and seeing as you're our resident Hazard specialist, I figure you'd be best fit for the job of helping me manage the samples for analysis. Care to squeeze me into your schedule?"

Gina actually pauses to think, considering the upcoming week in her head. Where oh where can she make time for her friend and colleague? The question of whether or not she will isn't even a question. "Have you been approved for overtime for this project?"

"You bet." Like she'd put in extra time without being paid for it.

"Well, I know it's the weekend, but how about tomorrow afternoon?" It isn't unusual at all for the two of them to make weekend plans, involving work or not. They're something of a bright spot, if Gina were to be frank about it.

And Colette will take any excuse she can get. "Perfect, then I can treat you to Tesla's Tacos after. What time do you want to meet in the lab?"

"Noon thirty?"

"It's a date."

Dr. Cross simply laughs.

Green grins in response, walking around the counter to pick up the documents she dropped off. "Let me take a look at these before I let you go, I want to make sure I'm not missing anything."

Gina uses her foot to scoot herself slightly out of the way, though Colette's labcoat still brushes the chair as she flips through the pages. She watches her read for a few moments, noticing her hair is getting longer again. Gina wonders idly if Colette cuts it herself or not. It doesn't seem as though it would be too difficult. Perhaps it's more so around the ears, and on the back. Having it short must make lab life easier. Her own curls are too much a source of pride to be cut so close, of course.

"... Colette?"

"Hm? It's all here--never doubted you for a second."

"What are you going to do after Thompson complains about you to Doctor Rosenburg?"

Colette makes a face down at Gina. "What is Rosenburg going to do? Tell me to be nice? He practically skins the hide of anyone who missteps in his own experiments."

She has a point. Gina hides a smile of amusement behind the guise of putting her chin in her hand, looking up at her colleague as she speaks. "Did he really deserve all of that?"

A deep sigh, then. "I genuinely doubt I so much as bruised his ego. I just hope it prompts him to use more than a fraction of the meat in his skull the next time he's collecting data for my assignments. Do we have to keep talking about Thompson of all people?"

"Thankfully not." Gina sighs, carefully standing. "Well, reprimanding aside, I've already taken too long with a simple mail delivery. I won't distract you any longer."

"You already know it's the most riveting part of my day."

"I wouldn't forget. I'll see you later?"

"If I don't catch you at the tram stop it's because I'm staying late. Definitely tomorrow, though."

"Be sure to intimidate the other techs into being careful with your work." Gina says as she pauses at the door, waiting for Colette's eye roll before she properly goes.

Roll. "Bye, Gina."

"Goodbye, Colette."

Dr. Green stands in the now empty shared office space, listening to her footsteps go down the hall.

...

She needs to work on that date thing sounding like a joke.


End file.
